There are applications in the fiber optics field in which a high power, low noise, broadband light source is of particular interest. For example, efforts are now being made toward spectral slicing wherein a common light source is used to generate a multitude of wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) signals. Such an application thus has the potential for replacing many lasers with a single light source. Other applications include, but are not limited to, frequency metrology, device characterization, dispersion measurements made on specialty fibers, and the determination of transmission characteristics of gratings. All of these various diagnostic tools, as well as many other applications, may be greatly enhanced by the availability of such a broadband source.
In general, supercontinuum generation involves the launching of relatively high laser powers, typically in the form of optical pulses, into an optical fiber, waveguide or other microstructure, wherein the laser pulse train undergoes significant spectral broadening due to nonlinear interactions in the fiber. Current efforts at supercontinuum generation, typically performed using light pulses having durations on the order of picoseconds (10−12 sec) in kilometer lengths of fiber, have unfortunately shown degradation of coherence in the generating process. In particular, additional noise has been found to be introduced into the system during the spectral broadening aspect of the process.
Supercontinuum light of wavelengths spanning more than one octave have been generated in microstructured and tapered optical fibers by launching light pulses having durations on the order of femtoseconds (10−15 sec) into the ends of such microstructured or tapered fibers. The extreme spectra thus produced are useful, for example, in measuring and stabilizing pulse-to-pulse carrier envelope phase, as well as in high-precision optical frequency combs. Efforts at modeling the continuum in microstructured fibers based on a modified nonlinear Schrodinger equation have been aimed at understanding the fundamental processes involved in the spectrum generation, and show that coherence is better maintained as the launched pulses are shortened in duration from the order of picoseconds to femtoseconds.
A relatively new type of germanium-doped silica fiber with low dispersion slope and a small effective area, referred to hereinafter as “highly nonlinear fiber”, or HNLF, has recently been developed. Although the nonlinear coefficients of HNLF are still smaller than those obtained with small core microstructured fibers, the coefficients are several times greater than those of standard transmission fibers, due to the small effective area of HNLF. Supercontinuum generation using an HNLF and a femtosecond fiber laser has been reported. U.S. Pat. No. 6,775,447 issued to J. W. Nicholson et al. on Aug. 10, 2004 discloses an HNLF supercontinuum source formed from a number of separate sections of HNLF fiber that have been fused together, each having a different dispersion value at the light source wavelength and an effective area between five and fifteen square microns. The concatenation of a number of different HNLF sections allows for the dispersion of the source to be modified, but the ability to reliably reproduce and manufacture such a fused fiber source may be problematic. Moreover, problems remain with respect to providing spectral shaping of the supercontinuum, where such shaping is dictated, at least in part, by the ability to design and fabricate a given fiber dispersion and nonlinearity.